Foo Fighters
This Is a Call sounds like someone discovering that a simple tune can take a great deal of noise. The opening song on Foo Fighters' debut puts a bright melody inside distorted guitars and keeps both in view. That balance is the record's main attraction.
Dave Grohl recorded nearly all of the instruments himself, but the album rarely feels like an exercise in showing what one person can do. The performances have a directness that suits the writing. I'll Stick Around moves with a harder edge, using a persistent guitar figure and an increasingly forceful vocal to turn a compact song into something properly urgent.
Big Me heads in the other direction. Its light touch and short, clear melody are enough to make it memorable without a large chorus or a dramatic change in volume. It is an important piece of the album because it shows how much of Grohl's appeal lies in the tune itself. The guitar distortion is a choice, rather than a requirement for every song to work.
Floaty is another highlight, opening into a more atmospheric space before the heavier playing arrives. Good Grief has a brisker, more crowded energy, while For All the Cows finds room for a playful shift in mood. These songs make the first part of the album feel varied without losing the sense that they came from the same small set of musical instincts.
The later stretch is rougher and less individually defined. Grohl's enthusiasm for abrasive sound is clear, but a few tracks do less with their riffs than the strongest songs manage with their melodies. The plain recording can also flatten some of the distinctions when the guitars stay loud for long periods.
Exhausted makes that blur useful at the finish. Its thick, damaged sound has a mood that survives beyond the song's basic construction, leaving the album somewhere less cheerful than its opening. Foo Fighters is an uneven but highly appealing debut, with a handful of excellent songs and enough unruly detail to keep its straightforward pleasures from becoming routine.
